Teaming Tips.

I first started SWtoR a few days ago with my girlfriend, and we decided that we both want to team together from level 1 to level 50. On our first day playing we had a lot of frustrations teaming until we worked some things out. Many thanks to those who helped me out with the few questions I had on this forum. This post aims to bring some helpful infomation to those who want to team up alot whilst playing. If you have anything to add then please do and I'll edit the top post including your tips on the list. I'd like this to be a decent resource for people wanting to play with their friends all the way up if they wanted too.

1.) Don't be put off teaming.
As said above I did have a few problems on my first day, but that was only because I wasn't in the know. There are many who will say teaming in this game is horrible, so don't get put off by that. Within a few hours, after learning what we needed to know, teaming actually become very very fun.

2.) If possible don't roll the same class.
This is my only major letdown with the game, a huge disapointment. If you have 2 of the same class (ie 2 Troopers or 2 Jedi Knights for example) you will have to do every phased class quest twice. If that doesn't put you off then great, however for me doing the class quests twice would get old fast. You can just solo the class quest and team up again afterwards, which if that works for you awesome, however it didn't work for me as we wanted to team all the way up.

3.) Try to start on the same planet.
Each planet has 2 classes that start in the same location. Blueside has Troopers and Smugglers starting on one planet and Jedi Knights and Jedi Consulars starting on another. Redside has Bounty Hunters and Imperial Agents starting on one planet and Sith Warriors and Sith Inquisitor starting on the other.
If you want to team from level 1, the only way to do so is by picking the classes that start on the same planet. My girlfriend rolled Smuggler whilst I went Trooper and we teamed from level 1 onwards and had a great deal of fun doing so.
If you picked classes that started on different planets (at the end of the day, you do want the pick the class you will have the most fun on) that is also fine...however you will not be level together until around level 9-10 after finishing the first planet.

4.) Make sure to take class quests in turn.
Don't be selfish and just do all of your class quests one after the other. Questing in this game is very linear and 9/10 classes will be sent to the same area for their phased quests (not including just the talk to ones). If you and your partner have different class quests in area A then do them both, it is very likely that the next class quest you both get will be in the same area too. Class quests also tend to be in the areas you have been sent too for other stuff anyway, so try and keep all players class quests uptodate with other quests you are doing.

5.) Don't feel forced to do everything.
Now by don't do everything everytime, I am not including class quests here. You will want to do all of your class quests to actually complete the story. However the less important area quests are different. They are just experience boosts and little side stories. If you are outleveling an area don't feel forced to complete them all. Just do your class quests in that area and move on.

6.) You don't NEED a healer.
One of the big things I see is people saying they aren't having fun because one of them needed to be able to heal. That isn't true, and with the exception of Flashpoints (possible some heroic quests too) most of your quests don't require someone healing. Play what you think is the most fun and don't feel forced to level a class you won't enjoy. At level 9ish you gain a compainion which can easily grab agro for you and at level 16ish you gain a compainion that heals. You can both roll DPS and be 100% fine leveling all the way up.

7.) You can help eachother on phased class quests.
Yes I know that the Trooper area is red and won't let you in, but as soon as your team mate runs in to start his quest you can follow him to provide back up. You can help on every mission he does, and even watch his cutscenes with him too.

8.) You don't have to be a healer to Rez.
Someone in your team died? Just right click their body.

Have anymore tips? Please post them. We have found teaming very fun once we got into it and I am hoping this post can help others who are having problems be able to have simular enjoyment to us.

Extras

Grouping while leveling greatly increases Social Point gain, you'll get them for every quest you do, with the exception of class quest. - Deroc

Many Flashpoints can be done with two people and their companions so long as you keep them relatively geared. - Deroc

You gain more social points for interacting in conversations depending on how many people are currently in your group (2/4 - 3/6 - 4/8) - Varix

You gain experience bonuses depending on how many people are currently in your group. - Varix

You gain a higher chance of items dropping the more people there are in your group (Not quest items, but actual wearable items, including artifacts and prototypes, hope I got the names right). - Varix

I wish more people would read this, i still see some social trogglodites ingame here and then.
Most will just group for a single heroic quest and leave group as soon as it is completed without saying a word.

People take stupidity to a whole new level when they sit in front of a computer.

I know how you mean, I have seen that a fair amount too. There have been a few rare occasions though when after helping someone with a heroic quest, or flashpoint, they'll end up sticking with me and my girlfriend for a while doing a few quests with us. It is those social moments that make it a real MMO and I wish it happened more often.

You gain more social points for interacting in conversations depending on how many people are currently in your group (2/4 - 3/6 - 4/8)
You gain experience bonuses depending on how many people are currently in your group.
You gain a higher chance of items dropping the more people there are in your group (Not quest items, but actual wearable items, including artifacts and prototypes, hope I got the names right).

What I am trying to say, is that there is no reason NOT to level together, whenever possible.

My boyfriend and I leveled 1-50 on our first characters (Marauder/Tankasin) very easily and had a great time doing it as well.

A couple other tips you may want to add are that grouping while leveling greatly increases Social Point gain, you'll get them for every quest you do, with the exception of class quests.

Also, every Flashpoint (can't say for sure about the level50 bracket as we re-rolled to play out different class stories) can be done with two people and their companions so long as you keep them relatively geared. This was with a PC tank and an NPC healer.

Gearing your companions is rather easy, most planets will have enough Heroic quests or "harder" quests will give you gear upgrades allowing you to spend commendations on either mods or full pieces of armor for companions.

You gain more social points for interacting in conversations depending on how many people are currently in your group (2/4 - 3/6 - 4/8)
You gain experience bonuses depending on how many people are currently in your group.
You gain a higher chance of items dropping the more people there are in your group (Not quest items, but actual wearable items, including artifacts and prototypes, hope I got the names right).

What I am trying to say, is that there is no reason NOT to level together, whenever possible.

You also get more points if you both pick the same option on a dialogue choice.
Also, some quests are a LOT more interesting if a different person wins the roll everytime.
And lastly, if your group mates pick a different aligment decision (light/dark), it wont affect yours, you still get your points as normal. But it might affect if the npc lives or dies.

People take stupidity to a whole new level when they sit in front of a computer.

I've been teaming up with my bf ever since early access.
Teaming makes for great fun.. But there can also be some frustrations if you don't normally play games a similar way..
For instance I'm the one who often leave an area if I notice I'm overleveling the content, while he wants to finish areas before he moves on.
And there's also the problem of "Will my team mate play on the same times as I?".

But on the whole, the teaming up is definately a fun way to play, maybe not all of your characters, but definately try it sometime if you have the chance

Just to point out, you don't gain anything by helping your friend through their story areas, and they don't gain anything other than making it faster. In my experience leveling with a same-class friend, it was much easier to just do our story areas on our own and then team back up once we were done.

I've teamed all the way from level 10 to max level. It has been extremely fun seeing conversations play out. Especially because my partner plays a neutral Smuggler and I play an evil Jedi Consular. The shock when I send some cute little elephant dude to his death, or when I left the Twi'lek aboard the other shit in the Esseles. It's immensely fun. Grouping up also gives bonus XP for quests completed. I seriously advice people to play as a group. The social points are nice, and it makes those hard class quests later on much less of a problem. Especially if a level as a healer like I've done.

---------- Post added 2012-01-05 at 01:02 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Deylana

Just to point out, you don't gain anything by helping your friend through their story areas, and they don't gain anything other than making it faster. In my experience leveling with a same-class friend, it was much easier to just do our story areas on our own and then team back up once we were done.

This is not true. You can gain 1/4th of the XP when your partner completes a bonus quest in his quest area.

If you both play the same class, you don't have to take turns to do your class quests, you can both do them at the same time but in separate phases i.e. you won't be able to help each other.

That goes agaisnt my whole point though. This was for those who wanted to team together from 1-50. I didn't want to solo for 30 minutes here, 1 hour there, 10 minutes here. We brought the game to team all the way up and this was made for those to do the same.

Yes you don't have to do everything together, and sure if you want to you can do the class quests seperatly, but I didn't write the guide for that situation.

Just to point out, you don't gain anything by helping your friend through their story areas, and they don't gain anything other than making it faster. In my experience leveling with a same-class friend, it was much easier to just do our story areas on our own and then team back up once we were done.

Not to be that annoying guy that corrects everyone, but this is actually a tiny bit false.

You are correct in the fact that you technically do not gain anything from helping your friend through his class quests and vice versa, other than speed and insight to his class quest.

BUT

If and when there is a bonus quest for your friend to complete, if you're in the phase WHEN he completes it, in a group - you are awarded bonus experience for completing a quest in a group. It's a tiny amount, but it is there.

Just to point out, you don't gain anything by helping your friend through their story areas, and they don't gain anything other than making it faster. In my experience leveling with a same-class friend, it was much easier to just do our story areas on our own and then team back up once we were done.

You get a portion of the XP from bonus quests.
I also read you were 'supposed' to get social points from watching their cutscenes, however I have never seen this happen.

Really nice to see some of these posts. it really annoys me when i read on various forums as a i browse during work hours (*coughs* such as now) people saying its a singleplayer game and a chat room, or the least social mmo out there etc etc.

We leveled up as a group from 10 to 50 my smuggler friend and i levelled together from 1to 50 and our Jedi knight joined us as soon as typhon was fnished, we originally started out as 4 but lost one to RL and the diablo Beta.

Its been hands down the best levelling experiance ive had in an MMO, we got to do all the flashpoints together at the correct levels, we got the hilarity of seeing a greedy smuggler, straight up trooper and a Jedi taking conversations in different directions, we got to do some of the epix heroci quest lines such as the Alderaan King one, and we've got a ton of Social points.

Good read but I just want to correct you on one thing. My wife and I are doing the same thing only leveling Jugg and Merc BH.

Yes I know that the Trooper area is red and won't let you in, but as soon as your team mate runs in to start his quest you can follow him to provide back up. You can help on every mission he does, and even watch his cutscenes with him too.

This is not 100% accurate, alot of inbetween planet quests for the stories take you to certain ships or temporary outposts that can only be accessed by the person on the story. Some of the story line quests must be completed alone, but as long as you both do the stories up to the start of the next planet you should be okay and carry on like normal.

Good read but I just want to correct you on one thing. My wife and I are doing the same thing only leveling Jugg and Merc BH.

This is not 100% accurate, alot of inbetween planet quests for the stories take you to certain ships or temporary outposts that can only be accessed by the person on the story. Some of the story line quests must be completed alone, but as long as you both do the stories up to the start of the next planet you should be okay and carry on like normal.

It's a shame the one thing you tried to correct me on is wrong

You can in fact join the person on those ships and temporary outposts. I had a Tropper mission to go to Port Raga at level 17 (before Taris) and my girlfriend was able to join me on that mission too. Those tempory outsides are only available to those doing the mission, however as soon as you load into it then your team can also access the same area from their Galaxy Map too.

What level are you at, because there are certain stories that took me to a renegage ship that I had to deal with and vice versa with my wife and there was no way either of us could get to the others story ship no matter what. I literally tried multiple things to no avail because one of her story quests required her to kill 75 of something on this ship and I was unable to aid her in doing so. For this one in particular I watched her kill and kill while I tried everything I could to try to join her. Might want to check into if this is a bug or not.

What level are you at, because there are certain stories that took me to a renegage ship that I had to deal with and vice versa with my wife and there was no way either of us could get to the others story ship no matter what. I literally tried multiple things to no avail because one of her story quests required her to kill 75 of something on this ship and I was unable to aid her in doing so. For this one in particular I watched her kill and kill while I tried everything I could to try to join her. Might want to check into if this is a bug or not.

I am assuming that she had the checkbox ticked for allowing team access for class zones as you have done other quests with her?
I don't think it is a bug, or at least one I haven't experienced or heard of before.

I will update the main post with a step by step on how to enter the type of missions you are describing and hopefully that'll help you aswell as others.